From coverage of classified State Department documents exposed by WikiLeaks: “Hundreds of millions of dollars in American military aid to Pakistan earmarked for fighting Islamist militants was not used for that purpose, US diplomats discovered after conversations with Pakistan’s military top brass. Pakistan’s army chief said the money, including $26m (£15m) for barbed wire and $70m (£43m) to defend against non-existent Taliban warplanes, had been diverted into the Islamabad government’s coffers, according to leaked cables to Washington. ‘The relationship is one of co-dependency we grudgingly admit,’ the embassy noted in February [21] 2009. ‘Pakistan knows the US cannot afford to walk away; the US knows Pakistan cannot survive without our support.’ ”
– Declan Walsh, “America, Pakistan and the $26m Barbed Wire Bill,” The Guardian, Nov. 30, 2010